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Killer Clown
The Killer Clown is an enemy in the Castlevania series. He is a murderous clown who's popular at demon birthday parties. Origins Although clowns are originally comic performers and characterized to humor and entertain people, the image of the evil clown is a development in popular culture in which the playful trope of the clown is rendered as disturbing through the use of horror elements and dark humor. The modern archetype of the evil clown has unclear origins; the stock character appeared infrequently during the 19th century, in such works as Edgar Allan Poe's Hop-Frog. Evil clowns also occupied a small niche in drama, appearing in the 1874 work La femme de Tabarin by Catulle Mendès, and in Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, both works featuring murderous clowns as central characters. The modern stock character of the evil clown was popularized by Stephen King's novel It, published in 1986, which became the first to introduce the fear of an evil clown to a modern audience. Another one of the first appearances of the concept is that of John Wayne Gacy, an American serial killer and rapist arrested in 1978, who became known as the "Killer Clown" after it was discovered he had performed as "Pogo the Clown" at children's parties and other events; however, Gacy did not actually commit his crimes while wearing his clown costume. Description Killer Clowns are terrifying clowns usually occupying dollhouse- and carnival-themed stages. The first of these types of enemies to appear in a Castlevania game, was a toy clown called Pierrot in Castlevania Chronicles. Later versions were human sized and threw playing cards as weapons. Appearances ''Castlevania Chronicles First appearance of a clown enemy in the series. Known as '''Pierrots', these enemies are little toy clowns who appear in the Floating Corridor along with many other toys, like French Dolls, Toy Bats, and rising balloons. They come out of the many chests that conform the platforms of that area and move slowly and somewhat erratically, the main concern being they may drop down on the player from a higher platform without warning while they're fending off other enemies. ''Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow In ''Dawn of Sorrow, the Killer Clown is a fairly powerful enemy. He prances slowly back and forth while shuffling a deck of cards from hand to hand and then throws them at great speed in a straight line, inflicting considerable damage on contact. Gaining dominance over his soul grants Soma the Trickster ability, which allows him to toss cards in a straight line. Furthermore, obtaining it is essential to get the good ending of the game, as it is required in order to destroy one of the three special carved columns that give access to the rear entrance of the Demon Guest House and fight Paranoia. The noise the Killer Clown makes when killed is shared by the Mud Demon, an enemy found later in the game. ''Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin In ''Portrait of Ruin, this enemy is seen tossing cards from one hand to the other, when suddenly three large cards fly at the player while he shouts: "Let's play!".'' He can frequently be found walking upside-down on the ceiling in places where gravity does not respect the laws of physics. Item Data Gallery Animations Trivia *Each time a card connects with a foe (either thrown by a Killer Clown or by Soma), a random picture of one of the game's characters can be seen briefly before it cuts in half: **Ace - Julius Belmont **King - Hammer **Queen - Mina Hakuba **Jack - Yoko Belnades **Joker - Alucard *The fact that the Killer Clown drops the Hamburger food item in some games may be a reference to Ronald McDonald, the primary mascot of the McDonald's chain of fast food restaurants. See also *Killer-Clown Nose References *Mr. P's Castlevania Realm *Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Bestiary by Darth Nemesis at GameFAQs.com *Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin Walkthrough and FAQ by Zach "Darko" Long at GameFAQs.com es:Payaso Asesino Category:Film-Based Monsters Category:Humans Category:Literary Enemies Category:Chronicles Enemies Category:Dawn of Sorrow Enemies Category:Portrait of Ruin Enemies